The Department of Sociology, ranked 8th out of 88 institutions in the Guardian University Guide 2014, will be the lead department for the RC33 conference. Sociology at Leicester has a strong methodological stream with Professor John Goodwin, Professor Jason Hughes and Professor Henrietta O’Connor being at the forefront of debates relating to the use of innovative and non-standard research methodologies. This includes re-use/restudies/repurposing (Goodwin and O’Connor); paradata and marginalia (Goodwin and O’Connor); epistolary forms and biographical methods (Hughes and Goodwin) and Internet research methods (O’Connor and Hughes). The methodology strand also includes agent-based modelling (Dr Chattoe-Brown); conversational analysis (Professor Hutchby); and strengths in relation to quantitative sociology (Dr White and Dr Bartram) and qualitative/ethnographic research. Research is a major component of the Department’s work.

The International Sociological Associaton (ISA) Research Committee RC33 on Logic and Methodology was established in 1973, to develop professional contacts between sociologists interested in logic and methodology in sociology; to encourage the worldwide exchange of research findings and theoretical developments; and to promote international meetings and research collaboration in the field of logic and methodology in sociology. They hold their International Conference on Social Science Methodology every four years.